With Geoff Bryant relinquishing his role as managing director to Edward James, who joined Citizen in 2012, Darren Wilkins now becomes deputy managing director with sole responsibility for sales and marketing and Jon Hart is now finance and administration director. Mr Bryant will continue as business advisor to the new team.
Said Mr James: “This is an exciting time to establish the future progression of the business based on the cultivation of the new management team by Mr Bryant with full support from Japan.”
“Over the past few years we have been progressively developing our team of key people so as to enable a smooth succession with a shared responsibility covering finance, sales, technical support and involvement in product development,” Mr Wilkins added.
Mr Bryant who has recently been appointed president of the Manufacturing Technologies Association for the next two years, remains a director of Citizen UK’s sister company, Hestika France until March 2018 when Mr Wilkins will also take on this responsibility. Mr Wilkins is also a director of Citizen Macchine Italia, the Group’s Italian operation and will be expanding the European sales operation.
Citizen Machinery UK employs 48 people and has recently expanded its sales team to support growth in the range of machines available and associated technology as well as the expanding customer base. The sales team is able to enhance its customer contact having a more compact area to cover. In addition, Adrian Pearce has been promoted to financial manager under Jon Hart.
Citizen Machinery UK www.citizenmachinery.co.uk